You guys may look at this and say "when was this guy born! " or something like that but here it goes. Air Europe is fairly new. That I know. I also know they are based in Milan. But, did they exist under a different name before recently? Where'd they get the money for the new 777's and A320's? Are they older than I think? How big's their fleet? Did they have other planes before recently?

Nothing new about them. They represent the surviving Italian arm of the Air Europe operation, which went bust around 1990. The UK parent faced very tough competition from BA. The parent was the UK carrier and there was a Spanish affiliate also.

Established in 1988, Air Europe began life as part of the UK-based Airlines of Europe Group (ILG), but became wholly Italian-owned in March 1991 when the group went bust. The airline was initially owned 25% by Alitalia, which is where the majority of fleet funding originated. Today the SAirGroup owns 45% of the airline (as of November 1998).

The airline is the largest charter and leisure carrier in Italy, and operates to medium and long-haul destinations around the world. Air Europe also has exclusive rights to Cuba, and operates a scheduled service to Havana.

7 Boeing 767-300ER aircraft are operated in addition to 2 777-200ER aircraft on order (these may have been delivered though).